3 arrested after Central Lafourche bomb scare
December 1, 2015
Ruth Cross
December 2, 2015
A caring young man who would do anything to make others’ lives a little brighter, devoted husband, son and brother, and an awesome dancer. Matthew Sanderson Matherne died at age 34 on Oct. 14, 2015.
Bourg native Matthew Sanderson Matherne was a popular kid who embodied everything that a parent could ever wish for in a child.
He played football, basketball, baseball, tennis, performed in school plays and excelled in school. He went to Vandebilt Catholic High School and was on the homecoming court. He was kind, empathetic and wore his heart on his sleeve.
“If he did something wrong, you didn’t have to question him,” said his father, Brian Matherne. “He would walk into the door after school and his face would tell you, ‘I’m in trouble.’ He couldn’t hide anything from you; he was so open and caring.”
His sister, Kellie Matherne Daniels, was four years older than Matthew. And she was more rambunctious. Their mother, Salome Hebert Matherne, would place the children in time out in the laundry room and bathroom if they misbehaved.
“I would be in the bathroom by myself and I would always go, ‘Matthew, Matthew!”‘ Kellie recalled. “[He’d reply] ‘Don’t talk to me, Kellie! You’ll get us in more trouble. Just don’t talk to me!”‘
When Matthew was 8, he played Frosty the Snowman in a holiday school play. He was dancing and twirling and ended up wrapping his feet in the faux snow, causing him to lose his balance and fall.
But Matthew grew into a talented dancer. He loved to dance and would often be the last person to leave the dance floor, his wife, Amy Kennedy Matherne, said.
“He was dancing like every night that we would go out,” Amy said. “He loved all things dealing with music and he was always ahead of the curve, I guess, on finding fun, new songs. He always had a passion for that.”
When he was 15, Matt’s mother died, which had a profound af ect on him.
It was always understood that Matthew would pursue a career in medicine, like his father, who practices family medicine at Family Doctor Clinic in Houma. Matt attended Louisiana State University where he met his future wife, Amy.
While he was at LSU, he joined the football team as a walk-on fullback, but hurt his knee. Although he had surgery to repair the damage, his college football career ended.
In 2004, after finishing his undergraduate studies, Matthew went to medical school at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada. Amy escorted him to the West Indies, but as Matthew was finishing his first year, the campus, as well as much of the island, was destroyed by Hurricane Ike.
So the couple returned to Louisiana, where Matthew attended LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans, only to have his schooling cut short again by another powerful storm – Hurricane Katrina.
Matt and Amy moved back to Baton Rouge where he studied until the New Orleans campus was rebuilt.
Always an empathetic and caring person, Matthew was very attached to many of his patients. Brian Matherne says it was his son’s empathy that helped him become such a success in the medical profession.
During his medical school rotation at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, Matthew met an 11-year-old girl named Lexi who had a terminal lung condition. After he finished his daily rotations, Matthew could usually be found visiting the dying girl.
Lexi loved animals, but of course, animals aren’t allowed in hospitals. One day, Matthew and Amy wrapped up their French bulldog, Ace, in a coat and snuck him into the hospital to visit Lexi.
“I remember (Ace) was trying to jump up in the elevator,” Amy said. “And Lexi was just ecstatic. I know Matt was so happy…. He would get her little gifts all of the time.”
Lexi died within a year.
After medical school, Matthew began his residency. That’s when things took a turn for the worse.
In 2008, Matthew’s behavior started to change. He became withdrawn, speaking with his family less. He became less empathetic to others, focusing more on his needs.
“When he began his residency, that’s when all the stuff started happening,” Brian Matherne recalled. “His personality started to change. He became more and more self-centered and he was never like that before.”
As things progressed, Matthew began drinking and smoking. A lot.
The family was rightfully alarmed. Doctors initially suspected depression, but medicine prescribed to treat him only made his behavior worse. Physicians next wondered if Matthew had Attention Deficit Disorder.
After a year, doctor’s got it right: Frontotemporal degeneration, also known as Pick’s disease or FTD. The disease causes progressive damage to the temporal or frontal lobes of the brain. It is marked with a gradual, progressive decline in behavior, inhibition and language. As the disease progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult for people to plan or organize activities, behave appropriately in social or work settings, interact with others and care for oneself, resulting in increasing dependency on caregivers.
According to Brian Matherne, there have only been 10 recorded cases worldwide of FTD in patients under age 30. There could be many more, he says, because the symptoms lead to misdiagnosis often because they seem like so many other disorders.
Eventually, Matthew lost his ability to speak at all. He succumbed to a pulmonary infection within six years of his diagnosis.
Amy chronicled her experience caring for Matthew at http://mattmatherne.blogspot.com.
Matthew Sanderson Matherne frequently visited Lexi, pictured here, at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, after making his rounds, lifting the terminally ill child’s spirits any way he could. Matthew died of a degenerative brain disease called Frontotemporal degeneration.
